Safety lock of fire lighter

ABSTRACT

A fire lighter includes a casing accommodating an ignition mechanism and defining an open chamber in which an ignition button is movably received. The ignition button is depressible by a user to actuate the ignition mechanism. A safety lock includes a movable button positioned on the ignition button. The movable button has a bottom face on which first and second projections are formed. The projections are movably received in slots defined in the ignition button and biased by springs arranged between the ignition button and the movable button to ensure smooth and stable movement of the movable button and to eliminate potential problem of jamming of the movable button.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a fire lighter, and inparticular to a safety lock mounted in a lighter to enhance stability ofoperation and effective return of the lock.

2. The Related Art

A conventional fire lighter is often provided with a safety lock toprevent undesired and unexpected actuation of the lighter. The safetylock must be released first in order to operate the fire lighter. Thisis to improve operation safety of the lighter and to avoid accidentcaused by unexpected actuation of the lighter.

The conventional safety lock comprises a movable button that is actedupon by a single return spring that functions to elastically return thebutton back to a lock position after actuation operation of the lighteris done. The single return spring is often encased inside the movablebutton, which often suffers from insufficiency of elastic biasing forceacting upon the button, which cannot effectively prevent the movablebutton from being accidentally moved away by for example a child. Thus,operation safety of the lighter is sometimes not secured by theconventional safety lock.

Further, the return spring undergoes aging and fatigue due to frequentoperation of the lighter. Since the conventional safety lock is composedof only a single spring, once the spring suffers fatigue, the safetylock no longer secures the lighter.

An additional drawback of the conventional safety lock is that theoperation of the safety lock is instable due to the fact that only onesingle spring acts upon the movable button. In other words, unbalance offorce often occurs when the movable button is moved to a releaseposition, as wall as when the button is returned by the spring forceback to the lock position. The button may get jammed during the movementbetween the lock position and the release position. This deterioratesthe quality of the fire lighter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the present invention is aimed to provide a lighter comprising asafety lock that addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks of the knownsafety lock of lighter.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a safety lock to bemounted on a lighter, wherein the safety lock comprises a movable buttonthat must be moved to a release position in order to release the safetylock before the lighter can be ignited and wherein the movable button isbiased by a pair of springs, which ensures smooth operation and stablereturning of the button.

To achieve the above objective, in accordance with the presentinvention, there is provided a lighter comprising a casing accommodatingan ignition mechanism, an ignition button and a safety lock comprising amovable button positioned on the ignition button. The casing forms anopen chamber in which the ignition button is movably received for manualdepression to actuate the ignition mechanism. The movable button of thesafety lock, which is arranged on the ignition button, is normally in alocked condition and must be moved aside to release the lock conditionin order to proceed with depression of the ignition button. The movablebutton has a bottom on which first and second projecting stops areformed. The stops are movably received in slots defined in ignitionbutton and are biased by springs arranged between the ignition buttonand the movable button. Thus, two spring acting on opposite sides of themovable button are arranged between the movable button and the ignitionbutton, which ensures efficient returning of the movable button from areleased condition to the locked condition, eliminating potentialproblems of jamming or sideway shift of the movable button, therebyenhancing smooth and stable operation of the safety lock and improvingquality and operation of the fire lighter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art byreading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof,with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a lighter comprising a safety lockconstructed in accordance with the present invention, which is at alocked position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but with the safety lockreleased and an operation button actuated; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the lighter, particularly showing thedetailed structure of the safety lock in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, which showsa perspective view of a lighter comprising a safety lock constructed inaccordance with the present invention, the lighter, which is generallydesignated with reference numeral 10, comprises a casing 11accommodating parts of the lighter, such as electronic ignition means,and an electronic ignition button 20 mounted to the casing 11 and asafety lock comprising a movable button 30 arranged on the ignitionbutton 20 to protect the ignition button 20 from being accidentallyactuated/depressed.

Also referring to FIG. 2, which shows a perspective view of the lighter10 with the safety lock released and the ignition button 20 actuated,and FIG. 3, which shows an exploded view of the lighter 10, the casing11 defines an open chamber 12. Also defined in the casing 11 is a fireoutlet opening 13 through which fire that is set by the actuation of theignition button 20 is released. The chamber 12 is delimited by oppositesidewalls, one of which defines a sideway notch 14, which functions toprevent the ignition button 20 from being depressed or actuated.

The ignition button 20 is movably received in the chamber 12 andpartially extends beyond the chamber 12 for access and depression oractuation by a user to set a fire in the fire outlet opening 13.

The movable button 30 of the safety lock is positioned on the ignitionbutton 20 when the ignition button 20 is not actuated. Underside orbottom of the button 30, that opposes the ignition button 20, forms afirst projecting stop 31 and a second projecting stop 32, which supportfirst and second springs 33, 34, respectively. The first and secondsprings 33, 34 are respectively arranged between the projecting stops31, 32 and the ignition button 20. An inner side surface of the button30 that faces the casing 11 forms a sideway extending block 35, whichcorresponds in position and size to the notch 14 of the casing 11.

The ignition button 20 has a top face in which a slide slot 21 isdefined to receivingly and movably engage the first projecting stop 31and also to retain the first spring 33. A recess 22 is formed in aninner side surface of the ignition button 20 and is delimited byopposite sidewalls. The second projecting stop 32 and the second spring34 are accommodated in the recess 22.

The button 30 is mounted on the top face of the ignition button 20whereby the first stop 31 is received in the slide slot 21 and oppositeends of the first spring 33 are fixed on the first stop 31 and an insideface of the ignition button 20. The second stop 22 is positioned in therecess 22 and opposite ends of second spring 34 are respectively fixedto the second stop 22 and the sidewall of the recess 22. The block 35 ofthe button 30 is in engagement with the notch 14 of the casing 11 of thelighter, which locks or secures the movable button 30 and thuspreventing the ignition button 20 from being depressed and actuated.

To actuate the ignition button 20, the movable button 30 of the safetylock must be moved aside first, as shown in FIG. 2, to disengage theblock 35 from the notch 14 and the lock is released. The sidewaymovement of the movable button 30 cause the first and second stops 31,32 to compress and/or extend the first and second spring 33, 34respectively. By releasing the movable button 30, the ignition button 20is now depressible for actuation of ignition mechanism inside the casing11 and fire can be set in the fire outlet opening 13. The presence ofthe movable button 30 of the safety lock ensures operation safety of theignition button 20 by preventing undesired actuation of the ignitionbutton 20.

Once the ignition operation is completed, the depression force of theignition button 20 is removed. The ignition mechanism returns theignition button 20 back to the un-depressed original position. The firstand second springs 33, 34 the bias the movable button 30 back to thelock position by re-engaging the block 35 with the notch 14 of thecasing 11, as the state shown in FIG. 1. The ignition button 20 is againlocked and prevented from being depressed.

To summarize, the safety lock in accordance with the present inventionmake full use of the excessive and unused space above the ignitionbutton 20 for the installation of the safety lock, especially themovable button 30 of the safety lock, which comprises a second spring 34arranged between the movable button 30 and the ignition button 20. Thus,the safety lock in accordance with the present invention comprises twosprings, rather than one, which act upon opposite sides of the movablebutton 30, respectively, to ensure successful and stable returningoperation of the movable button 30 and effectively eliminate sidewayshift and jamming of the button 30. The operation and movement of thesafety lock can get smooth and thus, quality and operation efficiency ofthe lighter is enhanced.

Further, with such a simple construction, the present invention isapplicable to the safety lock of all kinds of lighter to provide smoothand stable operation of the safety lock.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to thepreferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the artthat a variety of modifications and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention which is intended tobe defined by the appended claims.

1. A lighter comprising a casing accommodating ignition mechanism, anignition button, and a safety lock, wherein: the casing forms an openchamber delimited by at least one side wall in which a sideway notch isdefined; the ignition button is movably received in the open chamber tobe depressible to actuate the ignition mechanism to set a fire on a fireoutlet opening defined in the casing, the ignition button having a topface in which a slide slot is defined and an inner side face defining arecess; and the safety lock comprising a movable button arranged on theignition button, the movable button having an underside forming firstand second projecting stops, which are movably received in the slideslot and the recess, respectively, and are biased by first and secondsprings that are retained between the first stop and an inside face ofthe ignition button and between the second stop and a side wall of therecess, the movable button having an inner side face forming a blockremovably engageable with the sideway notch of the casing to prevent themovable button and the ignition button from being depressed.